One Tin Soldier
by Zero Harmony
Summary: Shadow weaved heedlessly through the bullets that flew around him as he assaulted G.U.N. Fortress, but what would happen if Luck chose to favor one of G.U.N.'s soldiers instead? Would it bring salvation, or misery? OC POV. Rated T for Blood and Violence.


**Author Note: This is just a "what if" story that came to me either out of nowhere or from playing far to much "Shadow the Hedgehog" it's my first story that's supposed to be characterization driven, so it was a very interesting piece to write. Well, read and review!** OOOOOOOOOO

**One Tin Soldier**

Ryan steadied the launcher in his hands as he heard the destruction being wreaked on the far side of the hall. He was going to die. The black monsters had destroyed every point of resistance they met, leveled Central City with the same freakish laser that destroyed half of the moon a year back, and that was nothing compared to the weapon that was coming.

Shadow the Hedgehog was on their side.

The Commander said that he had been a sleeper agent, and that was enough of an explanation for Ryan. It was his duty to fight for country and world, and he realized that it truly was the world he was fighting for. He also remembered he was going to die. The Big Foot behind him stood up as the destruction came closer. Two Hunters were tossed aside as an armored truck smashed its way through, a glint of black and red visible behind the wheel. The Big Foot opened fire with its Gatling gun, quickly hitting the engine and making it exploded. Shadow leapt away from the fireball and landed cleanly on the back of a parked troop carrier, sneering at the bullets that flew around him. He jumped forward to home-attack the mecha, but a stray bullet caught him, sending him crashing to the ground, rings scattering around him. He back flipped up and ducked behind the troop carrier and the Big Foot's fire followed, punching through the carrier's armored hull.

Ryan crouched and braced the missile launcher, waiting for the hedgehog to make his move. There was a flash of yellow and Ryan turned, trying to mark it with his launcher's targeter. Suddenly the black hedgehog was in his face, and a swift kick sent Ryan flying back against the wall. The soldier desperately forced his launcher to his shoulder as Shadow leapt into the air to attack the Big Foot. Ryan saw the launcher's viewing screen paint a target reticule on the hedgehog and let his finger off of the trigger. The missile streaked out as Shadow was jumping away from the now-ruined Big Foot, and curved to catch him square in the chest before he could react. The missile exploded and the black and red hedgehog went tumbling to the ground, rolling over and over until he came to a stop on the ground. There was green... blood where Shadow lay on the concrete floor, and he didn't move.

_No rings?_ Ryan thought. Mobians always grabbed the mysterious rings to protect them, something humans couldn't do naturally. The Commander had been worried when they started generating inside of G.U.N. HQ, a sure sign of coming conflict, but there was nothing he could do about. But if Shadow hadn't had any rings when he was hit, that would mean he took the full force of the missile, which would mean...

Shadow was dead.

_I killed Shadow the Hedgehog_

Ryan's adrenaline hit a new spike as a wave of energy split through one of the damaged Hunters and came towards him. Ryan jumped back and felt the wave pass by inches. He knelt and launched a missile at the black monster that leapt on top of the broken Hunter. Even as he saw it strike the first and kill it Ryan saw the second creature dash up, ready to fire its strange, organic looking gun. Ryan closed his eyes and readied himself for the kill. Something like a screeched war cry reached his ears. The black creatures didn't make noises, not like that. Ryan opened his eyes and saw a bat deliver a final blow to the black creature, kicking its head back with an audible cracking noise. The black creature collapsed suddenly, and the white bat stood over it, breathing through her nose to hide how stressed the fight must have left her.

She looked over to where Shadow was lying on the ground, and ran over to crouch down beside him.

_Dang._ Ryan thought. _I bet on Knuckles._ He slapped himself and grabbed at his face. _No you idiot. She's just concerned because they were partners once and you KILLED HIM!_ Ryan let out a low sigh. That was the first time he had killed a person. Before the black creatures attacked he had been a paper pusher in G.U.N. HQ, and only when they attacked the fortress itself had he been given body armor and a missile launcher and been told to do his best.

"What happened?" Rouge asked.

"He attacked us!" Ryan said too loudly. "He managed to take out a Big Foot before I shot him. And he kicked me once." as the adrenaline died down, Ryan became certain that a few rib had been cracked by that. Not enough to keep him down, but he wasn't sure he could take much more.

"We need to get him help." Rouge said, picking up the body and clearly ignoring the blood. As she turned forward Ryan finally got a clear look at what the missile had done and had to suppress a wave of nausea. The best he could say was that the face was still intact.

"Are you sure he's-" Ryan began. He really hoped that Shadow couldn't survive that.

"Shadow's seen worse." Rouge said. "He survived a fall from orbit." Ryan had actually seen the paper she had written titled "Realistic Android Capabilities" and marked with the circle-claw symbol the Commander used to mark Shadow's involvement.

Rouge brought her glove up to her face as the pair began walking deeper into G.U.N. HQ.

"This is Rouge coming in.," she said into the glove. "Shadow the Hedgehog was successfully neutralized. I have him with me, along with the soldier who brought him down." She paused as she listened to a reply that Ryan couldn't hear. "All physical signs indicate he is dead. I'm taking him to the medical bay for testing. Yes, the 'Good Doctor' will be consulted." She put her hand down and broke into a near jog. "Come on. We need move fast."

The missile launcher weighed down on Ryan's shoulder, but he kept going. After all, the bat was carrying someone as big as she was. They passed through another hallway filled with soldiers and robots. The soldiers seemed grateful that the odd pair weren't aliens, but were amazed by the sight of Rouge carrying Shadow's body. They whispered among themselves as the pair passed, and Rouge turned and pointed back at Ryan.

"He got him, along with about ten brutes." the soldiers turned and stared at Ryan. He was short, fat and unbalanced, with cheeks that looked like they still had their baby fat. The scared frown that covered his face made it seem that even he didn't believe what the bat was saying. They reached a cargo lift and Ryan pulled the lever to send the lift down into the depths of the fortress. They reached the bottom and immediately a fresh squad of soldiers filed on and took it back.

Ryan followed Rouge through hallways filled with men on crutches or wheelchairs, civilians carrying wounded soldiers, orderlies carrying papers through the lower layers of G.U.N. HQ. Reaching a door that obviously held a private medical bay for officers or the like they walked in.

"Here he is, Doctor." Rouge said.

"Good, good. Put him on the table." said a voice known throughout the world. It was a good disguise. The mustache had been shaved, bloody bandages covered the bald, and square glasses replaced the spectacles that usually covered the man's red and black eyes. Still, this close it was easy to recognize the man as the infamous terrorist Dr. Eggman. "Whose this?" He said. Ryan straightened himself instinctively but forced himself not to salute.

"Private Ryan-" He started.

"The reason we are here." Rouge said, sounding more irritated than before.

"Okay. Tell me exactly what happened." Eggman said, pointing at Ryan. He recounted everything he could remember about the attack, up to the point when Rouge arrived.

"I see." Eggman said. Frowning, he began dashing around testing various instruments. He then began the gruesome task of checking Shadow's body. Ryan chose to look away as the mad doctor tested his work. Time seemed to slow down as he waited facing the windowless walls, the only sounds he heard being the shallow breaths of everyone in the room and the wet movement of Shadow's body being tested in some new way. He was the first to see the Commander coming in, and immediately saluted.

"Commander sir!" strictly by the book, something Ryan understood and did efficiently.

"At ease. Is he dead?" The Commander asked.

"Yes." Eggman said automatically.

"That's impossible." Rouge said. "He survived falling from-" Eggman's head turned to look her in the face with a grim face.

"My dear, do you realize the shear amount of effort it took on my part to ensure that? As he fell he subconsciously skipped much of the distance using chaos control, I had robots intercept him and attempt to reverse his fall, but by that point in time much of his skin had begun to burn off, allowing me to only use the gentler ones, which could only bring his speed to a constant level and direct him to a batch of a particular force absorbing substance I had designed as a trap. With all that, he escaped with only every bone in his body breaking, losing the majority of his skin, and suffering extreme damage to his mind, and it took a year of regeneration to get him back to combat worthy status."

Eggman took a deep breath. "And in that scenario the majority of his internal organs were left undamaged because the force was distributed through his remarkably robust skeleton. In this instance he was hit by a shaped charge that punched through his ribcage and shredded most of his internal organs. THIS HEDGEHOG IS DEAD. This is an entirely different situation from his fall and that is why he is now dead."

"Very well then, doctor. You are dismissed." the Commander said. "Rouge, escort the 'Good Doctor' back to his quarters. Private Ryan, please follow me."

"Yes sir!" Ryan said, straightening and saluting. The Commander turned and set a brisk pace as he led Ryan down the hallway. They finally arrived at the very heart of G.U.N. HQ, with the president himself waiting for them.

"Here he is." The commander said. "Private Ryan, a clerical worker who was conscripted to bolster our defense force.

"Thank you very much, commander." The president said. He turned and shook Ryan's hand. "And thank you too, Ryan. Not only have you denied the enemy an important asset, you've proved that these terrorists are not unstoppable, an important moral victory."

Ryan hadn't voted for the president, but he always found the way his idealism coupled with his dedication admirable, if not a little naive. During this dark day however, he couldn't think of anyone better to lead the country.

"The emeralds are all secure, sir." The commander said.

"Are they being taken to Sonic?" The president asked.

"As fast as possible, sir."

"Good." The Chaos Emeralds were secure? What happened... Shadow must have had them. Ryan recalled hearing that the hedgehog had taken one from the government's digital database. But when Ryan killed him, Rouge had picked up Shadow, and must have taken the emeralds then. More and more was balancing on the one shot Ryan made.

"The recorder is ready, sir." Someone said.

"Good." The president said. "Ryan, please stand beside me, and do your best to show courage." Ryan quickly moved to obey, and tried to change his frown to a scowl as a Beetle with an under slung camera floated up and pointed at them.

OOOOOOOOOO

"We are the people of Earth. We have lived on this world for thousands of years, and we will fight to our dying breath to protect the ones we love. Even with all the hatred among us, your attack has only served to bind us together."

_Lies_

"Hear me out! When you first attacked our cities, we fought only to defend ourselves. We held no thought of you as aware. Then you chose to speak, and come to our level, and show us how low you actually were. You showed that you knew we were intelligent, and still chose to destroy us and take our world for your own. Now we fight to put an end to you and your crimes. We will struggle, we will beat you and break you down until the Black Arms are nothing but a name used to scare children to bed."

_Pathetic defiance. I've seen it before._

"The seven Chaos Emeralds are in our hands and as I speak they are being taken to Earth's greatest hero, one who calmed a raging god with his hands and felled the greatest products of science with his power. The insides of this fortress have been cleared and our forces are able to push outward, while at the same time reserves hidden throughout the world will attack your armies from behind."

_These things will never come to pass._

"And we have one more thing on our side, that gives us the knowledge that you are not immortals, and that you can be beaten. A single act of courage by one man, not a soldier but simply a man who believed in this world."

_What fantasy do you conjure to give yourself hope when there is none to be found?_

"Shadow the Hedgehog is dead!"

OOOOOOOOOO

The infernal scream rang out from every radio and every screen. It was the same voice that had taunted the world before destroying Central City, but this time it held only rage. The sanitary parts of Shadow's dead body had been displayed on every screen to prove to both sides that what the president said was true.

"What was that?" Ryan asked. The president had fallen from the sudden shock of the scream. Ryan glanced behind him to see the commander leaning on the wall and grabbing his head in what seemed to be pain or fear. As he heard Ryan's question he lifted his head and looked the clerk in the face.

"The being behind all of this, the one who conspired with Gerald to create Shadow and take the Emeralds: Black Doom." Ryan stared at him open mouth, not knowing what to say. "Your not safe here. Get to warehouse D as quickly as possible and try to rearm yourself."

Ryan dashed off to the warehouse, down elevators and through hallways. As he ran he imagined every single black alien chasing him. His footsteps became those of brutes closing in behind him, the buzz of door panels became the screeches of black drakes swooping down to kill, and the groans of machines became the tremble of giant worms tunneling towards him. He finally reached the warehouse and stumbled in, setting the door to lock behind him. He didn't see it until too late. Out of the corner of his eye it looked like a man, but as he turned to see what it was he found he was horribly wrong.

The creature's head had down-curving horns that stuck out from the sides. Its hands were far too large to be human, and clearly had a thumb on each side of the palm. The chains hanging from over the shoulders held arcane, cosmic symbols, and the necklace was a ring of rough hewn, multicolor crystals. The black robe, seemingly regal at the top, turned to tatters at the bottom. There were no legs to cover, though, and the abomination hung there by no visible means. The most immediate and horrifying facet, however, was the face. The neck went straight up from the base to a top crowned with spikes, and the only facial features were three yellow-red eyes that stared at Ryan with utter, alien hatred.

"**YOUR INSOLENCE IS GREAT, HUMAN**." the voice was nearly human, too close for Ryan's health, growling and rasping every monotonous word. "**INSECTS DID NOT SEE FIT TO OVERTHROW YOUR PLACE IN THIS WORLD, YET YOU STRUGGLE AND MAIM US, THE BLACK ARMS, THE SUPREME BEINGS OF THIS UNIVERSE**."

Ryan shivered and tried to back away, but fear rooted him to the spot staring at the horrific alien.

"**HOW DARE YOU USURP YOUR PLACE IN THINGS AND LAY LOW MY CHOSEN ONE, DESTINED TO BREAK THE LAST DEFENSES OF HUMANITY. GERALD HAD CRAFTED THE SWORD, AND WITH MY BLOOD FLOWING IN HIM I SHARPENED SHADOW'S WEAK MIND INTO ONE FILLED WITH HATRED AND SORROW. HE WAS MY ULTIMATE WEAPON. HOW COULD A PATHETIC HUMAN LIKE YOU DEFEAT HIM?**"

Purple smoke and black lights filled the aliens hands. Ryan turned and ran, but found the warehouse door in his way. He reached for the door panel, but a bolt of flaming stone destroyed it.

"**NO ESCAPE! YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST TO FACE MY JUSTICE.**" Ryan turned to face the alien as it readied another bolt.

"Die." The word was spoken plainly before the sounds of gunfire filled the room. The alien shrieked as bullets tore up his front, making him spurt green blood and dip down momentarily. The gunfire stopped abruptly as something white and black leapt down from the rafters. The figure landed on two feet, holding an assault rifle in its hands and wings outstretched to brake its fall. It was Rouge.

"You'll pay for what you did to Shadow, Black Doom." She said straightening and pointing the gun at the alien. Ryan realized that in his heart he had already recognized and feared this alien to be the elusive leader of the Black Arms.

"**WHAT I DID? THAT HUMAN WAS THE ONE WHO MURDERED HIM.**" Doom stretched out his arm to point at Ryan.

"Don't bother. You just said yourself that you were the one who filled Shadow with hate for your own purposes."

"**THEN IT SEEMS I MUST KILL YOU TOO.**" With that Doom swung his arm and sent a purple blade of energy scything across the floor at Rouge. The bat jumped up and onto a stack of crate and opened fire with the rifle, spraying bullets at Doom. One barely scraped his shoulder when he disappeared suddenly, leaving Rouge to try and find where he went. Ryan took the opportunity to dad for a pile of crates in the corner of the warehouse, looking for a safe place to hide. There was no way he could help fight against that thing. There was a hiss and the sound of gunfire filled Ryan's ears again. He dared to steal a look of the fight, and was met with another bolt of stone that he barely dodged as it tore through the crates he had been hiding among. A hard metal block clattered on to the floor in front of him. A missile launcher. Ryan quickly scooped it up into his arms and began to load it when Black Doom rose up through the floor in front of him, another bolt of stone ready.

"**NO ESCAPE!**" Ryan yelped and ran, not looking back to see whether the creature chased him.

"There you are." Rouge jumped from behind another pile of crates and pushed Ryan behind her, opening fire on Doom with her rifle. Doom laughed as the bullets passed through harmlessly and the image faded away.

"**FOOL.**" Ryan looked up in time to see the real Black Doom hurl flames from his hands. Ryan avoided them, but Rouge was too slow to dodge and they knocked her to the floor, sending her gun sliding across the floor.

"**NOW IT IS TIME TO FINISH THIS.**" Doom crowed over his opponents.

"You got that right." A flash of blue light shot through the doors of the warehouse and struck Black Doom, hurtling him to the ground.

"**WHAT?**" The blue light fell to the ground, and revealed itself as a blue hedgehog.

"Didn't they tell you I was coming? Sonic's my name, and I'm here to give you what's due." Black Doom roared and threw out his arm, sending out another blade of purple energy. Sonic jumped over it and hit the ground in a roll, aiming himself to hit Doom. The alien neatly floated over the attack, but Sonic simply continued until the next pile of crates and kicked of, rocketing into Black Doom full force. The alien disappeared and returned behind Sonic, ready to attack, but Rouge jumped down from the roof and knocked him down with a kick.

Ryan watched in wonder as the two Mobians battled with Black Doom, ducking and weaving between his attacks and catching him unaware when he focused on the other one. Every blow spilled green blood, but there never was any mark to show that the alien had been injured. _Just like Shadow before..._ Ryan realized that Doom was protecting himself in some way similar to the rings that Mobians used. If that was true, then it was only a matter of time until Black Doom would be vulnerable, and Ryan was holding a weapon that could be sure to kill something. And he realized that he had to do it. Rouge was only in it for revenge, and would doubtless make another mistake, while Sonic simply wouldn't kill. Ryan was the only person there able to do it.

Sonic hit Doom with a flying kick, and the alien collapsed on the ground, struggling with its arms to raise itself.

"Had enough yet?" Sonic said. Doom raised himself to be vertical and threw his arms wide.

"**CHAOS BLAST!**" He roared. A red burst of energy caught Sonic and Rouge unaware and flung them away into piles of crates. Black Doom laughed. "**SO MY CREATION SERVED ME EVEN AFTER HIS DEATH. THE TECHNIQUE IS INEFFICIENT BUT USEFUL IN CERTAIN SCENARIOS. NOW THE CHAOS EMERALDS ARE MINE!**" Black Doom rose up from the floor and began to move towards Sonic, when a missile streaked out from the far side of the room and knocked him down again. He twisted his head to see Ryan walking towards him slowly reloading the missile launcher.

Ryan said nothing.

"**IT SEEMS I**-" Doom was cut short as Ryan fired another missile, leaving a trail of blood as it sent Black Doom sliding across the floor.

"**IMPRESS**-" The next missile hit the floor and sent Doom flipping over into the air. He landed face first with the back of his robes finally damaged, revealing the horrific body that lay underneath. The torso was nearly human, but the lower part was nothing but a single mouth that face away from the rest of the body, feeding straight to the bottom of Doom's body. An open wound was visible on Dooms back. Ryan raised the missile launcher and readied to fire one last time.

"**WAIT, NO, THIS IS INHUMANE, I SURRENDER, YOU DON'T NEED TO KILL ME, I'LL GIVE YOU MY ARMY, YOU COULD CONQUER THE WORLD WITH IT, YOU COULD CONQUER HUNDREDS OF WORLDS. THE BLACK ARMS WILL DO WHATEVER I SAY, YOU COULD**-"

Ryan fired.

Dooms screams were cut short as his head exploded in a shower of green blood and an arm was thrown away from him. The rest of the body was flung back by the explosion and landed in a pile of crates, where it simply lay still. Ryan let the launcher fall to the floor. It was over.

OOOOOOOOOO

When Black Doom finally died the rest of the Black Arms went berserk, dropping whatever weapons they might have had and blindly charging anything that moved. The next hour was the bloodiest fighting of the entire war, but in the end every last Black Arms lay dead or captive for study.

Ryan received the highest honors of every country and major institution for his part in ending the invasion. Several trust funds were set up in his name, and his name was put on the list of G.U.N. combat personnel.

In unrelated news, Dr. Eggman escaped G.U.N. custody and stole the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic, using them to charge the Eclipse Cannon and destroy the world famous Black Comet before it could leave Earth's orbit. Sonic subdued him seconds afterwards, and both Dr. Eggman and the Chaos Emeralds are back in G.U.N. custody. G.U.N. has yet to issue an official report about the incident.

The commander of G.U.N. announced that he would be stepping down after the last effects of the "Black Arm Invasion" were dealt with, saying that he is satisfied with what he has done during his lengthy career in G.U.N.

Current election models state that the presiding president of the United Federation will be re-elected near unanimously.

Agent Rouge has resigned from G.U.N. and is operating her club full time. She has made no comment about the death of Shadow the Hedgehog.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Ryan, you really need to take a vacation. Everything will still be here when you get back."

"I don't want to think, okay?"


End file.
